LAST DECEMBER, 14 pilgrims
and I visited the tomb of St.
Padre Pio in San Giovanni
Rotondo in southern Italy.
In this small town on a barren
mountainside, Padre Pio in 1917
began an assignment at the Capuchin
Friary and Church of Our Lady of
Grace. There he remained until his
death on September 23, 1968.

During those 51 years, many dramatic
things happened at that Franciscan
friary and church. On September
20, 1918, Padre Pio received the stigmata
while making his thanksgiving
after Mass in front of a crucifix in the
friary choir loft overlooking the inside
of the church.

As the story of this event spread,
thousands of people began arriving
by busload to attend his Masses or to
confess their sins to this devout
Capuchin friar known to have the gift
of “reading souls.” Reports of remarkable
healings performed by Padre Pio
also began to circulate throughout the
region and beyond, and continued to
do so throughout the saint’s life—and
after his death.

When our pilgrimage bus rolled into
this greatly expanded town on December
3, 2007, we encountered a very different
Church of Our Lady of Grace
(Santa Maria delle Grazie) than Padre
Pio knew. For one thing, our group did
not see the small façade of the simple
church, with which Padre Pio was very
familiar in his early years there. Instead,
we saw a new and greatly enlarged façade and structure that now houses
both the “old church” that Padre Pio
knew and a much larger “new church”
built to accommodate the ever-growing
number of pilgrims coming to attend
Padre Pio’s Masses in his later years.

And now, following Padre Pio’s beatification
(1999) and canonization
(2002), a huge new Church of St. Pio
stands behind and a bit below the
enlarged structure. It is able to hold
7,000 people within its walls. And the
outdoor plaza alongside it can hold
thousands more.

To the front and right of the enlarged
structure (containing the two churches)
is a huge five-story hospital gleaming
brightly in the sun. This hospital, known
as the House for the Relief of Suffering,
has 350 beds and was a dream of Padre
Pio from early on. In 1940, Padre Pio
and two doctors came up with the idea
of constructing such a hospital. Work
began in 1947, and the hospital was
already in operation in 1954. It continues
to thrive as a highly respected medical
facility.

This hospital, more than anything else, convinces many people of the
spiritual balance of Padre Pio. Even
though he is credited with performing
more than a thousand miraculous cures
over the years, he remained committed
to building this hospital. This House for
the Relief of Suffering suggests to the
world that God’s everyday way of bringing
about healing is through the skills
of doctors and nurses, as well as
through the support and care of community,
family and friends.

A central feature of St. Padre Pio’s shrine
today is, of course, his tomb. In early
December, when we visited this tomb
in the crypt of the Church of Our Lady
of Grace, we found it often surrounded
by groups of pilgrims. They were coming
there to pray for personal favors or
for the healing of loved ones. But not
long after our visit, dramatic changes
began to take place at Padre Pio’s tomb.

In early January, Archbishop Domenico
D’Ambrosio, papal delegate for the
shrine of Padre Pio, announced that
the saint’s body would be exhumed,
studied and later displayed for public
veneration. According to Catholic News
Service, the archbishop revealed that
“he and the Capuchin friars of Padre
Pio’s community had decided it was
important to verify the condition of
the saint’s body and find a way to ensure
its preservation.” The archbishop
also explained that the Capuchins, with
Vatican approval, “have authorized the
exposition and public veneration of
the saint’s body for several months
beginning in mid-April.”

On March 2, according to Catholic
News Service, Archbishop D’Ambrosio
presided over the exhumation of the
body of Padre Pio in a service that
began at 10 p.m. and ended more than
two hours later. A statement, released
the next day, said the body of the saint
was in “fair condition.” The archbishop
told reporters that the saint’s hands
were well preserved and “looked like
they had just had a manicure.” He also
said that the saint’s feet were clearly visible;
the Capuchins traditionally are
buried barefoot.

1887 (May 25) Francesco Forgione is
born in Pietrelcina in southern Italy.

1903 Francesco enters Capuchin novitiate
in Morcone, Italy, and takes the
name of Brother Pio.

1910 Brother Pio is ordained a priest
in the Cathedral of Benevento near
Pietrelcina.

1916-17 Padre Pio goes to Naples for
national service but is sent back to the
friars because of poor health. After some
months of rest, he returns to Naples only
to be discharged from the army because
of worsening health problems.

1917 Padre Pio begins his long stay at
the Capuchin friary at San Giovanni
Rotondo.

1918 (September 20) Padre Pio receives
the stigmata, visible signs of Christ’s passion.
He has them until his death.

1968 (September 23) At age 81, Padre
Pio dies in his room at San Giovanni
Rotondo at 2:30 a.m. His last words are,
“Jesus, Mary! Jesus, Mary!” Over 100,000
people attend Padre Pio’s funeral (September
26) in San Giovanni Rotondo.

1990 Padre Pio is beatified by Pope
John Paul II.

2002 Padre Pio is canonized by Pope
John Paul II.

2008 (April) Padre Pio’s body is placed
on display for public viewing in a new
crystal tomb until at least late September
but perhaps longer.

The Catholic News Service story also
noted, “The Capuchins of San Giovanni
Rotondo, who were represented
at the exhumation, said the skull and
parts of the upper body showed serious signs of decay,” which was blamed on
humidity in the coffin.

Padre Pio’s remains were then moved
to a room set up in the adjacent
Capuchin convent where he lived for
many years. Technicians worked to preserve
and reconstruct the corpse of
Padre Pio. The archbishop and the
Capuchins hired the London-based
Gems Studio, which makes lifelike
sculpted figures for museums, to create
a silicone mask—including a short
moustache and ample beard—for the
saint’s body.

Cardinal Saraiva Martins, prefect for
the Congregation for Saints’ Causes,
celebrated Mass April 24 at San Giovanni
Rotondo before officially unveiling
the new, crystal tomb in which
Padre Pio has been reburied. Since then
the exhumed body of Padre Pio has
lain in a glass sepulchre in the crypt of
the saint’s shrine—the same crypt in
which his remains had been kept for 40
years. His body will remain there on display
for public viewing at least until late
September, but perhaps for as long as a
year before the crystal will be covered.

On September 23, the Capuchins
and the universal Church are to celebrate
the 40th anniversary of St. Padre
Pio’s death. September 20, in addition,
marks the 90th anniversary of his
receiving the stigmata.

Elsewhere in the shrine millions of visitors
come each year and view the many
items on exhibit. Pilgrims can contemplate
the historic crucifix before which Padre Pio was praying when he received
the stigmata on his hands, feet and
side. Another significant exhibit for
the visitors’ interest is the friary room
or cell, now enclosed by glass, where
Padre Pio lived, slept and prayed for
many years.

There are many other interesting
items and memorabilia laid out for
exhibit in the corridors of the shrine,
such as photos of Padre Pio, his parents
and others. Visitors can also see, for
instance, an old confessional where,
hour after hour, Padre Pio heard confessions
and gave spiritual advice to the
thousands who sought it.

After our bus pulled away from Padre
Pio’s shrine and the town of San Giovanni
Rotondo, I began to ask myself:
What are visitors supposed to learn from
the life of a saint—indeed, from this
“unusual” mystic, whom the whole world
knows as Padre Pio? Of course, we could
say that Padre Pio’s main focus was no
different from that of any thoughtful
Christian—namely, a focus on the great
love that God reveals to us through
the passion and death of Jesus Christ.
We are very familiar with the central
formula of our faith proclaimed at the
Eucharist: “Lord, by your cross and resurrection
you have set us free. You are
the savior of the world.”

Among the People of God, however,
we all know there are different levels of
sensitivity to God’s love and goodness.
Saints like Padre Pio and St. Francis of
Assisi might appreciate and respond to
God’s gift of overflowing love in very
dramatic ways.

On the other hand, other people may
respond to the mystery of God’s love in
ways that seem more ordinary. Yet, even
these more ordinary people may encounter
powerful moments of blessing
(a wonderful prayer experience) and of
crisis (serious illness or challenge).

These moments may be very intense
and dramatic—and they can bring us
very close to the loving presence of
God. And our faith tells us we are never
far away from the love of God.

St. Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) is widely considered the
first Christian stigmatic. Franciscans certainly turn to this
saint to help them understand what meaning the passion
of Christ had in St. Francis’ life and that of his followers.

St. Bonaventure (1221-1274), the renowned Franciscan
theologian, mystic and spiritual writer, is a great help in this
regard. When St. Bonaventure, in his Life of St. Francis,
describes the scene on Mount La Verna where Francis
received the stigmata, he does so in the context of God’s overflowing
love for Francis.

Bonaventure relates that Francis, two years before his
death, went to Mount La Verna around the Feast of the Exaltation
of the Cross (September 14). He went there to ponder
the mystery of Christ’s passion. Bonaventure frequently
uses images of fire and flames to describe the intensity of both
Francis’ love and that of the crucified Christ, who communicates
his love to Francis in a fiery manner.

Bonaventure writes that, as St. Francis pondered Christ’s
sufferings on Mount La Verna, his “unquenchable fire of love
for the Good Jesus [was] fanned into such a blaze of flames that many waters could not quench so powerful a love” (see
Song of Songs 8:6-7).

It was a short time after this that Bonaventure describes
the scene of Francis receiving the stigmata: “Francis saw a
Seraph [angel] with six fiery and shining wings descend
from the heights of heaven. And when the Seraph [came
near] the man of God, there appeared between [the Seraph’s]
wings the figure of a man crucified, with his hands and feet
extended [as if] fastened to a cross....

“When Francis saw this, he was overwhelmed with a
mixture of joy and sorrow. Francis felt joy because of the gracious
way Christ looked upon him, but the fact that Jesus
was fastened to a cross pierced his soul with a sword of compassionate
sorrow” (see Luke 2:35).

It was at this moment that Francis received the stigmata—
the five wounds of Christ. The “fiery and shining
wings” of the Seraph, as depicted by Bonaventure, suggest
the flaming intensity of God’s love, which the crucified
Christ was pouring forth from his loving heart into Francis.

St. Padre Pio (1887-1968), closer to our times, is the
most universally known Franciscan—and Christian, for that
matter—to bear the marks of Christ.

Though ordinary people by the thousands sensed the
holiness of this Capuchin mystic and considered him a living
saint, Padre Pio was nevertheless much maligned during
a large part of this life. He was often despised and mistrusted
by envious priests, by some members of his own
Capuchin community and by many top officials of the
Roman Catholic Church. Many wrote him off as a self-seeking
fraud. As a result, Padre Pio suffered greatly, yet
complained little.

In the end, he was vindicated and exonerated by history
and by the canonization process, which ultimately declared
him a saint. St. Padre Pio’s canonization ceremony in 2002
drew 300,000 people to Vatican City, filling St. Peter’s Square
and nearby streets.

Padre Pio’s personality and life experience in many ways
differ from that of St. Francis. But like St. Francis—especially
as portrayed in the writings of St. Bonaventure—the spiritual
writings of Padre Pio are often filled with images and
expressions of fire and flames and all-consuming love. These
images tie Padre Pio intimately to the spiritual tradition of
St. Francis and St. Bonaventure. Consider these passages
from letters that Padre Pio wrote to his spiritual directors:

“I feel my heart and my inmost being completely absorbed
by the mounting flames of an immense fire....While my soul
experiences an atrocious agony caused by the flames that I
have described, it is filled at the same time by an exceeding
sweetness which calls forth immense love of God....

“Sometimes at the altar my whole being burns in an
indescribable manner. My face, in particular, seems to go on
fire.” Padre Pio speaks further of “this ever active volcano,
which burns me up and which Jesus has placed in this very
small heart. It can all be summed up as follows: I am consumed
by love for God and love for my neighbor.”

(Quotes are from Meet Padre Pio, by Patricia Treece, Servant
Books, 2001, published by St. Anthony Messenger Press.)